


Something Totally Unexpected

by goodluckgettingtosleep



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Baby Neal name change, Captain Cobra - Freeform, Captain Cobra Swan, F/M, Family Fluff, Light Angst, Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-21
Updated: 2015-09-21
Packaged: 2018-04-22 16:19:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4842179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goodluckgettingtosleep/pseuds/goodluckgettingtosleep
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was all so terrifyingly familiar that Emma had just decided to ignore the whole matter entirely, until she couldn’t anymore.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Something Totally Unexpected

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the following prompt on Tumblr: "Can you do CS + “I know about the baby.”?"
> 
> Yes, I can and yes, I did. 
> 
> The whole story is not beta-ed, so please bear with me. 
> 
> xx

Emma was staring at herself in the mirror, her palms resting on her flat belly. It was soft and had become a bit more squishy than usual over the past few weeks because she hadn’t been able to stop herself from eating grilled cheese and onion rings almost every day, along with tons of chocolate ice cream and salt-and-vinegar chips.

She was just so hungry all the time and was craving the weirdest combinations and things she had never even liked before. It had confused her at first and her mother had kept giving her suspicious looks that she had chosen to pointedly ignore. She was hungry, so what? Her life had been very stressful lately after all; maybe her body had to compensate for the struggle, fighting the darkness and all. Emma had also chosen to ignore the fact that all that happened months ago and really shouldn’t physically affect her anymore.

But she still hadn’t been able to shake the nagging feeling that she’d experienced something very similar before: the craving, the way her breasts felt, her mood swings. It was all so terrifyingly familiar that Emma had just decided to ignore the whole matter entirely, until she couldn’t anymore.

She was three weeks overdue and as much as she wanted to live in denial, she knew very well what was going on and that it wouldn’t help anyone if she ignored it any longer.

The day before she’d snuck into the local hospital to steal a pregnancy test and she hoped to God or whoever, really, that nobody had seen her. She wasn’t proud of herself for stealing medical supplies, but what was she supposed to do? Walk into the pharmacy to buy a test? Just so the whole town would know within less than an hour? No. It hadn’t been an option. Emma had to figure this all out on her own first.

Sighing deeply, she put her shirt back down and hesitated just a moment longer before she walked over to the bathroom. She already knew what the test would say.

Still, seeing it before her as an undeniable fact felt like a punch in the gut. Emma felt sick when she looked at the stick in her hand, the tiny plus sign seeming to mock her by just being there. It was all too familiar and connected to so many painful memories and feelings that Emma could only sink down onto the toilet seat and cry for a while, trying so hard to get it all out of her head again. She should be over it. She _was_ over it, but being pregnant again still brought along so many memories she had neatly stored away and so many negative feelings in general, that she needed a while to calm down again. She needed to remind herself that she wasn’t a 17-year-old girl anymore, that she wasn’t in prison and most of all, that she wasn’t _alone_. Emma had her parents now, she had her son back and, most importantly she knew with all her heart that the father of her new baby would never abandon her.

All the painful and negative feelings she had about her pregnancy and why she’d just chosen to ignore it at first were not real anymore; they were echoes from her past and they were not important.

Realizing this, Emma felt herself calming down immediately and she even smiled a little when she wiped away the tears from her cheeks.

She hadn’t planned this. _They_ hadn’t planned this. And it was probably not the best timing, maybe it was still too early, maybe there was too much else going on – but it had happened and somehow it felt right that way. Maybe the perfect timing didn’t exist.

It wouldn’t be easy and Emma would struggle from time to time, but after spending an hour in the bathroom thinking everything through, Emma was positive that it would all turn out well this time. She wouldn’t have to give up her baby and she loved her baby daddy more than she ever loved Neal, even if he hadn’t abandoned her. And Killian wouldn’t abandon her. Emma just knew at the bottom of her heart that he would be the one who was different; that he would be the one who stayed.

 

+++

 

Telling him, however, was a whole different matter. Emma didn’t think he would react negatively in any way, but something was still holding her back.

She had driven out of town to see a doctor the week before and found out that she was already eight weeks along. She carried the sonogram in the pocket of her jeans and it was always there to remind her that she should tell him, because he deserved to know.

Still, she couldn’t quite get herself to actually do it. Emma hadn’t told anyone yet, although she had a strong suspicion that her mother already knew anyway. It was like she had a special sense for it or something. Maybe it was her motherly instinct. But Mary Margret hadn’t said anything to her yet and Emma was grateful for it. She had no idea how she would react if someone just confronted her with the truth, even if they were simply looking for confirmation to their suspicions.

To say Emma was nervous when Henry came over that afternoon was a grave understatement. She’d called him in the morning and asked him if he could come over for some hot cocoa with cinnamon in the afternoon because she needed to talk to him. He was living with Regina this month and Emma had figured it would only be fair if she told him about her pregnancy first. She had no idea how he would react and she felt guilty, because his little brother or sister would never have to go through everything he went through because she gave him up. It wasn’t fair, but Emma couldn’t change it, as much as she wished that she could. She hoped desperately Henry wouldn’t be mad at her, though.

“Is everything all right?” Henry asked when he sat down at the kitchen table. He gave her a confused look and Emma couldn’t blame him. She had been running around like a scared up chicken ever since he arrived and she was pretty sure that her hair was a mess.

“Yes! No. Yes, actually… Oh God, I’m totally messing this up, aren’t I?” Emma sighed deeply and put Henry’s favorite mug down in front of him. She sat down at the opposite side of the table and sighed again, reaching out to squeeze Henry’s free hand softly.

“Mum, what’s going on?”

“I… I need to tell you something. It’s… nobody else knows yet, because I wanted to talk to you first and I… well, I just don’t know how.” Emma frowned slightly and shoved her own mug away from her with her free hand, just because she felt like touching something. Henry gave her a soft, reassuring smile.

“Mom, come on. It can’t be that bad. Just tell me.”

Emma took a deep breath and leaned back, preparing herself to just say it.

Just. Say it.

“I’m pregnant.” She blurted out rather hastily and Henry’s eyes widened in surprise.

She watched him anxiously as he started frowning, seemingly unable to say anything at all. He needed two whole minutes before he broke into a brilliant smile that immediately lifted a very heavy weight from Emma’s shoulders.

“Wow! Mom, that is amazing! And Killian really doesn’t know?”

“You’re… you’re okay with this?” Emma asked, because she needed to hear it.

“Of course I am! I want you to be happy. Besides, I’m going to have a little sister or a little brother, how cool is that?”

Finally, Emma broke into a smile as well, her free hand almost automatically wandering down to cover her small belly.

“Yeah…”

“I’m sure Ki—“ Henry started but never got a chance to finish, because the front door of Emma’s house was opened rather loudly and Killian yelled “Swan!” before he was even properly in. He sounded strange and breathless and Emma swallowed hard after she’d shaken off her initial shock.

Killian was still breathless when he arrived in the kitchen. He was about to say something when his eyes fell on Henry and he shut his mouth again, helplessly looking back and forth between mother and son.

“Um— I’m gonna leave you two alone for a bit.” Henry said, as perceptive as ever to his surroundings. He gave Killian a small smile as he rushed past him and up the stairs to his room.

Killian stared at Emma for a while longer, his jaw tight and his eyes a mixture of determination and tenderness. Emma had no idea what had upset him like that.

“I know.” He said tightly and Emma froze for a moment. He couldn’t know about her pregnancy, could he? She hadn’t told anyone yet and—

“What?” She brought out, her voice small and shaky. Why was she being like this?

“I know about the baby.” Killian sounded soft now, like his anger was melting away as he spoke. Emma swallowed again, tears welling up in her eyes. How could he know?

“Wh— what?”

“I found this on deck of the Jolly Roger.” Killian said, holding up the sonogram. Emma immediately reached for her pocket, but it was not there anymore. It couldn’t be, because Killian had it. She must have accidentally dropped it after she’d been staring at it on deck of his ship. She’d been watching the horizon for a while, because it usually had a calming effect on her ever since Killian had brought her to the docks to calm her down for the first time. She must have dropped it when she’d tried to shove it back into her pocket.

“I didn’t know what it was, but it had your name on it, so I knew it was yours. I didn’t think much of it, but then I walked into your father on my way here and he was asking me rather furiously why I was carrying a _sonogram?_ around and why we didn’t tell them. Obviously I didn’t know what it was, so he explained it to me. And that’s how I found out that we’re having a baby.”

Killian came closer as he spoke and reached for her wrist as soon as he was close enough, soothingly rubbing his thumb over the inside.

“Emma. Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked softly, his eyes gentle on hers.

“I wanted to! I planned on telling you tonight, I just… I just needed some time to figure this out on my own. I’m sorry, Killian.”

Killian shook his head and drew her into his arms. “Don’t be. It’s okay.”

Emma _felt_ him laughing before she heard him and he sounded so happy that she was suddenly feeling comfortably warm inside. “Bloody hell, Emma! A baby!”

And Emma joined in his carefree laughter, smiling brightly at him when he pulled away to touch his palms to her belly.

“I’m going to be a Dad?” he asked almost reverently and Emma nodded, reaching up to wipe a silent tear from the corner of her eye.

“Yeah. No more swashbuckling tales then, Captain. You have responsibility now. Time to settle down.” It would have scared her a while ago, but now it sounded so right. They would be a family and that was what Emma had always wanted after all.

Killian brushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

“There’s nothing I would rather do, Milady.” He said with a slight tilt of his head, before leaning in and kissing her gently. Emma sighed and wrapped her arms around his waist, relishing in the feeling of having him close and somehow feeling… home.

When they pulled apart again, Emma spotted Henry standing in the doorway with a bright smile on his face and she let go of Killian to open her arms for her son.

Henry basically _ran_ into her arms to hug her as tightly as he could, but pulled away again rather quickly to reach for Killian and include him in their hug as well.

Emma was surprised at first, but even happier when she realized how much Henry had come to like Killian. Her son smiled broadly at her boyfriend, teasingly raising an eyebrow as he said: “Congratulations, _Dad_.”

Somehow Emma couldn’t shake the feeling that it was meant in more than one way. Killian reached out to ruffle Henry’s hair and Emma smiled at them, wondering when exactly she’d gotten so lucky in her life.

She couldn’t remember a time when she was happier.

 

+++

 

**8 months later:**

Emma was watching Killian playing with their son with a smile on her face. Liam was a month old now and they’d pretty much gotten used to their new life as a family. Killian had moved in shortly after he’d found out about her pregnancy and he had asked her to marry him when she’d been eight months pregnant and whiny about everything. She had surprised herself by agreeing without hesitating for even a second and they’d arranged everything in record time to get married before the baby was born. It had been a small wedding aboard the Jolly Roger, only with their closest friends and family and Emma found that it had been the most perfect wedding she could ever have wished for.

 “Look at you, a little pirate already!” Killian said as Liam was throwing his stuffed animal at him. He picked him up and pressed a kiss to his forehead, looking at him like he was a miracle and he couldn’t quite believe that he was real. Killian always looked at their son that way. He’d told Emma that it was true and that sometimes he really couldn’t quite believe that he’d gotten so lucky after an eternity of darkness.

He had surprised her when he’d come home one night, not long before she was due, presenting her both of his hands and holding up his hook in the one that had been missing before. Emma had never minded his hook and she’d actually been a bit sad that it was gone, but Killian had explained to her that he wanted to be able to pick up his son properly without risking to hurt or drop him, so he’d gone to get his hand back. And Emma understood that, of course she did.

Her favorite moments were when she had them all together, all her men and her mother. Henry had accidentally called Killian _Dad_ a few times now and Emma had a feeling that it was going to be a permanent thing. Henry enjoyed having him around and he’d never really had a father before, so Emma supposed it wasn’t hard for him to accept Killian as some kind of father figure, especially now that he was the father of his brother. David had stopped pretending to be the skeptical, scrutinizing father after a while and fully accepted Killian as his son-in-law and best mate. Her little brother had started walking and talking and was constantly after her, screaming “Emmy!” at the top of his lungs. Emma had chosen to call him by his middle name, though, as had Killian, David and Henry, because it was just too weird to say her ex-boyfriend’s name all the time. Leo was a far better choice and they’d all agreed after Emma had finally voiced her issues with his name. She had mourned Neal, of course, but everything he’d done in the end hadn’t changed the things he’d done to her before. He’d abandoned her and let her go to prison at 17; he’d been a coward and a liar and Emma didn’t want to be reminded of all that every time she called after her little brother. Mary Margret was still hard to convince, but Emma had caught her calling him Leo as well at least once and she was convinced that she was secretly happy to have her son carrying the name of her father.

 “Mom? Dad? I’m going over to see Mom, yeah? She wants to talk to me about something.” Henry said behind her, startling her out of her thoughts. Emma grinned knowingly and nodded, wishing him a good time. She already knew what Regina was going to tell him. They’d finally found a way to reverse the spell that kept her from getting pregnant and Emma supposed that Regina hadn’t wasted any time to actually _get pregnant_.

“He did it again.” Killian said quietly when Henry was gone, standing up and letting Liam rest on his forearm. “He called me _Dad_.”

“Yeah, he did. He really likes you, you know?”

“Well, it’s an honor to be called that by him. I can’t believe how lucky I am to have two amazing sons and, well, have you seen their mother?” Killian grinned at her, back to being his charming self and Emma couldn’t help melting a little, like she did every time he started flirting with her. “Because she is – whoa. And I love her very much.”

Emma snorted and leaned in to kiss him, unable to wipe the grin away from her face.

“I love you too, you great idiot.”

 

-Fin-

 

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
